A Broad Place

King David speaks of the Lord bringing him into a broad space in 2 Samuel 22:20.

A year ago I vacationed in Rhode Island. It was over twenty years ago when I left my home town of Bristol. I stopped by the homes and schools of my boyhood. Though they remained for the most part untouched by time, they were strangely smaller and over crowded by new developments. While my memories were pleasant, the location and size of these places was disturbing.

In one back yard where I played in the late afternoon was just a mere postage stamp. Long gone was the "wide eyed" view of a child. Everything back then seemed larger, bigger, and brighter.

So what had changed?

It seems life grows more restrictive as we age. Some of us work in gray paneled cubicles, go home to face four walls for the night, ride to and from work in a car or crowded train, and eat around small tables or bump elbows in a cafe. That's where I was while mediating on God's word this afternoon - in a modest cafe, with the noon crowd buzzing in and out of the doors.

Still there is one cherished childhood memory of me laying in an open, grassy field looking heavenward wondering about God. In that moment, there was no sense of fear, temptation, or disease, sorrow or pressing deadlines that would come years later when as a man I would struggle to find an identity and place in the world.

Yes, I recall that open space, how wide and refreshing it felt. It was a broad place, where the clouds sailed past in a warm, lazy current of summer air. The soft breeze felt like the breath of God, whispering in a small, still voice. "Come away with me." Perhaps, King David had the same experience when as a youth he tended sheep in the open fields.

I believe no matter how hard pressed our souls, God brings us to a broad place so we can breath. A place where He pushes back painful barriers, obstacles or hindrances that constrict, imprisons us.

When we invite Him into our most confined places in our heart, much like the fearful disciples following His death, He walks right through walls to meet us with comfort and reassurance. He occupies the space, pushing out the all the walls with His mighty Spirit to make a broad place. A place where He restores our "wide eyed" view and wonder of His immense and vast power and tend care.